Jakob the Liar | Full Movie

Jakob the Liar

PG-13

1h 40m

1999

29%

age 13+

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In Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II, poor Jewish cafe owner Jakob Heym (Oscar®-winner Robin Williams Best Supporting Actor, 1997, Good Will Hunting) accidentally overhears a forbidden radio news bulletin signaling Soviet military success against German forces. To combat the overwhelming depression and suicide that pervades the ghetto, Jakob invents fictitious news bulletins about Allied advances against the Nazis. These lies keep hope and humor alive among the ghetto inhabitants, spirits are lifted, hearts are refreshed, and optimism is reborn. The Germans learn of the mythical radio and begin a search for the resistance hero who dares operate it.

Common Sense Media

age 13+

Common Sense Says

Watered-down Holocaust tale may stir kids' interest.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Jakob the Liar is a 1999 movie in which Robin Williams plays a Jewish man trying to survive the Warsaw Ghetto of WW II who accidentally becomes a source of hope, courage, and resilience when he's believed to be hiding a radio and must make up good news about the near arrival of Allied troops on the verge of liberating them. There are hung bodies, beatings, shootings, torture, and psychological cruelty under the Nazi regime, as well as Jewish characters driven to suicide by hanging. There's occasional cigarette smoking, and some wine drinking. Profanity includes "s--t" and "bastard."